


He Left Her Behind

by Zadien



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 10:10:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14330211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zadien/pseuds/Zadien
Summary: Set after Ch 441, Levy can't believe that Gajevy left her behind again! After all that time working together for the Council, the minute a new mission shows up, he gathers up the B Team and leaves her behind. It's about time she gave him a piece of her mind.





	He Left Her Behind

“Oi Shrimp, are you still annoyed with me?”

Levy shifted against the tree trunk and angled her head back to look up at Gajeel as he sat on the branch above her, legs dangling as he studied their small camp. They were still on the lookout for Laxus and while Gajeel claimed he knew where the leader of the Thunder God Tribe resided, it seemed the information was vague or the area too large to narrow down the exact location. She hoped they found him and the others soon, it was weird being back at the Guild without Laxus, Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen; stranger still without Makarov. Hopefully, Team Natsu was making some headway with their infiltration plan. 

She folded her arms across her knees and huffed out a breath. Stupid Gajeel, thinking he could go off and do this mission on his own. They were supposed to be a team. 

“Tch, you are still annoyed.”

”You left me behind, Gajeel. We’re supposed to be partners.”

”We’re not in the Council anymore,” Gajeel muttered as she sent him the foulest look she could muster, not that he could really see it but she knew he could feel it burning into his feet. It was that or give in to the lump in her throat. Yes, that was true, they weren’t part of the Council, but still… didn’t he miss it? The quiet hours in their office with the soft glow of the lacrima and the iron shelves filled with books and scrolls, him cursing over his reports with his feet kicked up on the table while she furiously scribbled down notes and deciphered encryptions. Or the endless squabbles they had over the delicacy of deconstructing a strong barrier and how brute force just wouldn’t do the trick? She did. She missed her uniform and the routine, and just being with Gajeel and Pantherlily all the time, like their own special team. 

But clearly, Gajeel didn’t think about those times. No, the first mission he found for himself, he gathered up the B-Team again and he left. her. behind! 

Stupid, stupid Gajeel.

She jolted as he dropped down in front of her, feet planting firmly in a way that made the ground vibrate beneath her, reminding her of his controlled strength—not that she could forget. The man had arms and shoulders to die for and he wasn’t afraid to show them off. 

"Oi, I knew you were following us. I left you hints everywhere back at the Guild.”

Hope fluttered, a small delicate thing stretching its gossamer wings. She swallowed hard, not trusting her voice. “Oh?” 

“Of course. But I couldn’t just wait for you, we had to get moving because we’re goin’ to war.”

She surged to her feet, hands curling into fists. That was a reckless plan. “But what if I didn’t catch up in time or I could have been attacked—”

Gajeel scowled and folded his arms, legs braced. “I was keeping an eye on you and we were going slow so you’d catch up. I knew what I was doing.”

She pursed her lips. Well, that sounded about right. Even with her small legs and delay, she’d managed to catch up. In fact, in all her missions she’d been able to catch up fairly fast to Gajeel and he never seemed surprised when she snuck into his camp. It had always mildly disappointed her but she’d usually be too busy to actually think about it. Did he have a homing lacrima inserted into her stuff? Oh, she was not okay with that. 

“You smell, okay?” She blinked and stepped back and Gajeel groaned and covered his face. “I mean—fuck—look I—I know what you smell like and you know I’ve got better senses than most, so that’s how I knew you were following and how close you were getting.” He huffed out a breath when he’d finished, eyes averted, colour high across his cheeks. 

“You can smell me?” Well obviously he could, he’d mentioned similar things before - being able to scent when someone was injured, smelling smoke from a nearby fire that would turn out to be several leagues away—but she’d never actually thought about what she smelt like to him.

Oh no. 

She flushed and looked at the ground. “What do I smell like? Can you smell the others?” She glanced around the clearing, noting Cana stretched out on a log snoring gently while Mira had taken the others to fetch food.

Shuffling his feet, he grumbled something and then exhaled loudly, stroking the piercing at the end of his left eyebrow. “Well sure. Juvia smells like spring water and fresh grass, Natsu smells like fire and smoke and Wendy like air—and they both smell like dragon. Laxus smells like storms, and that scent’s really thick around here so he’s close by. Cana smells like booze and patchouli, and Mira smells a wee bit too sweet but there’s something bitter underneath to offset the sweet. And, uh, Lucy smells like ink and stars and the ice bastard smells like ice and snow covered trees, and Lily smells the best,” he said with a grin that was all warmth and pride. He was so damn fond of his cat. “I can’t even describe it, probably ‘cause he’s not human.”

“And you—” He shifted closer, feet bumping hers as those crimson eyes scanned her face, a little smile quirking his lips. Something melted inside, even as her pulse beat a frantic flutter against her throat. “Well you smell like cinnamon, and parchment, and recently iron,” he said with a casual shrug, “but that’s probably because we were working together for that year and that’ll wear off after a time. Lily says I smell like books, from the library, and that’s just how shit goes. So I told you I knew you were there and I wasn’t leaving you behind. I knew you had your own shit to do.”

“Well,” she said, glowering up at him, “you could have just left a note.” Gajeel’s hints were sometimes harder to decipher than the encryptions from enemy guilds. 

“And have the whole Guild following us? The last thing I need is a bunch of old farts showing up and doing stupid shit and having to arrest them.”

“Okay. You’re right.” She smiled softly and rested a hand on his forearm, squeezing it gently so he’d know she wasn’t mad at him. She never could stay mad at him. That was a problem because Gajeel Redfox was very firmly stuck in her heart and he still failed to see her as anything more than someone he had to protect, a nakama only. But she could deal with that if it meant she got to stay by his side. 

He lifted his arm but instead of resting it on her head as he was prone to do, he dropped it over her shoulders. And this close she could make out the faint scent she’d come to associate with him, like warmed metal and maybe a little like books. Her heart somersaulted in her chest before settling into place. 

“I wouldn’t leave you, Levy,” he murmured, “we’re a team. You, me, and Lily. So if you don’t mind smelling like iron, I can put up with smelling like paper.”

Delighted with him, she laughed and turned her face up to his. She liked the way his eyes crinkled, the softness that muted the blood red to crimson, and somehow he seemed more content and at peace with himself. Despite everything going on, they were okay. Drawing back, she grabbed his hand, rough and firm in hers, and tugged him towards her bag. “Come on, I want to show you the info I got from the Council. It seems like this mission is going to be a lot bigger than we expected. So, I hope you’ve got a plan.”


End file.
